The transhumanists’ belief in technology coincides with a new kind of religion based on becoming immortal. Their view of humanity is limited to existence in this world.
Dimensions of being human that go beyond this are not part of it. Thus, essential aspects of the cultural heritage of humanity, both in the East and in the West, are not taken into consideration.
Our state of consciousness is our state of life.
Many people feel deeply that we are lacking something. Something is missing, even if everything is available on the outside – often even in abundance. This would not be experienced if there were not a criterion deep within ourselves that something like fulfilment, completeness, satiety, true satisfaction and ultimately a sense of arrival truly existed. As we often feel inadequate, as deficient beings, we are searching. We look for a solution to our dilemma. Animals do not do this. As seekers, we find ourselves on an unknown path that is supposed to lead us “home” again, into fullness and fulfilment. Like strangers who don’t really know what exactly they are looking for and what they are lacking, but who know deep down inside: THIS HERE cannot be everything, THIS HERE can only be a transitional state, THIS HERE is not my true home.
The problem lies in our state of consciousness. In our purely human-creatural state, our consciousness is almost completely identified with the material body and the material world, which includes both the visible physical matter and the invisible subtle worlds. This is where we feel at home. This is where we seek fulfilment. But is it to be found here?
Most people are convinced that they really are this natural being, this ego, this personality with its name, history, feelings, thoughts and beliefs and, above all, this body. They equate themselves with this deficient being and believe that their own personality completely defines them. Physical death inevitably becomes something tragic for them and is perceived as the worst-case scenario. Sigmund Freud called death the ultimate “narcissistic insult” to the human being, because it shatters the human self-image existentially. Death means finiteness; the fragility of physical existence; it reveals our powerlessness in relation to the most fundamental aspect of our lives: our existence here on earth.
But there is more. Consciousness does not come to rest where death is concerned. The fact that the body decays is obvious. The dying process is also something that we can observe (in others). But the state of death, our own death, cannot be imagined by the conscious mind. It appears to it as an eerie nothingness from which it must protect itself. So we search for solutions and, how could it be otherwise, we try to find solutions on the material level we are familiar with.
The vision of transhumanism
Transhumanism (from Latin trans = over and humanus = human, “h+” for short) is an intellectual, cultural and philosophical movement that aims to transform the human species, both biologically and intellectually, through the use of advanced technologies. The core idea is to overcome the biological limits of human beings in order to achieve a new, better form of existence. The aim is for humans to significantly improve and expand their physical and cognitive abilities through technology such as biotechnology (genetic modification), artificial intelligence (AI), nanotechnology, robotics and brain-computer interfaces. Life extension is also on the horizon. Some even believe they will be able to overcome death in the long term.
The term transhumanism was formulated early on, but especially in the 1950s by Julian Huxley (1887-1975), a British biologist and philosopher who propagated the idea of completing human evolution through technological means. The movement itself gained in importance in the 1980s and 1990s. It now has a firm place in the common mindset.
One of the best-known advocates of transhumanism today is Ray Kurzweil, a leading futurist and director of engineering at Google, who wrote the 2005 bestseller The Singularity Is Near. Briefly summarised, the book deals with the technological “Singularity”, a groundbreaking event that Kurzweil predicts to occur in 2045. Singularity is the point at which artificial intelligence will be so advanced that it will surpass human intelligence, and humans will overcome their biological limitations with the help of technology. This scenario will have massive implications for humanity, such as the merging of man and technology. Unpredictable and radical changes to individuals and society will be the result. So much, in a nutshell, for the vision of futurist Ray Kurzweil.
Prominent promoters of these ideas include Aubrey de Grey, a biogerontologist known for his work on life extension, and Nick Bostrom, philosopher and director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University.
The current driving forces behind the topic include financially strong US tech companies such as Google and Tesla, as well as many smaller tech companies. Well-known personalities such as Elon Musk are among the proponents. Musk is the founder of companies such as Tesla and SpaceX and also founded Neuralink, a company that develops brain-computer interfaces. This technology aims to connect the human brain with computers. Prototypes have already been developed. They are intended to help paraplegics, for example, to control so-called exoskeletons with their brain power, which will enable them to regain mobility.
Visionaries in the scene dream of one day being able to transfer human consciousness to microchips and store it permanently. In this way, humans could achieve immortality through technology. The age-old dream of cheating death is being dreamed of in a new way by transhumanists. State-of-the-art technology should first prolong life in the body and then capture and store consciousness. The American computer scientist and Silicon Valley insider Jaron Lanier writes in his book Who Owns the Future? about “the tech circles where one finds an obsession with the technologies of immortality. […] What most people have failed to grasp is that the rise to power of net-based monopolies coincides with a new sort of religion based on becoming immortal. ”
Attempt at an interpretation.
The goals and promises of transhumanism are manifold and plausible. Humans should live much longer and healthier lives, free from illness and physical limitations. Technological advances should make it possible to expand human capabilities to an unimagined extent. This should usher in a new era for the human species.
The transhumanists’ view of humanity is limited to existence in this world. Dimensions of being human that go beyond that are not included. Essential aspects of humanity’s cultural heritage, both in the East and in the West, are ignored. This includes, in particular, the knowledge that there is something immortal in man. The original impulses of all great cultures bear witness to this. What is striking and paradoxical about transhumanist philosophy is that the idea of an immortal and perfect existence is one of its guiding principles. It is not recognised that such an idea can only come from the immortal itself. In Sri Aurobindo’s (1872-1950) philosophy of evolution, man is a transitional being. He warned against viewing the future development of man only in linear terms, i.e. as a mental being with enhanced abilities. Instead, man should grow beyond his mental thinking through a change of consciousness and achieve a supramental awareness of truth, which he also called “gnosis”.
Transhumanism forms a kind of antithesis to the origins of human cultures and their spiritual knowledge. These origins go back thousands of years and tell of the divine origin of man and the divine seed that remains in him. They also tell how early humanity, embodied on earth, interacted with the gods. At that time, the human soul space was an arena, a field of activity for the activities of the gods. In it, they could reveal themselves directly; they could powerfully work into man, shaping and guiding him.
Corresponding testimonies from sacred writings and the findings of anthropologists and spiritual teachers usually appear to modern man as pious fairy tales. Remnants of this early existence, which can still be found among some indigenous peoples, are dismissed as fantasies.
How our current state of consciousness came about
Cultural history contains clues as to how our current state of consciousness came about. In this light, transhumanism appears as a possible consequence of a path that has long been taken. Man began (thousands of years ago) to build a barrier against the world of the gods, a certain protective space for his soul and his consciousness. He did this with the help of developing thought. Whereas he had previously focused primarily on the divine-spiritual world, he used his incipient thinking to attune himself more and more to the visible world. The enormous diversity in nature helped him to develop a differentiated thought life. Thus began a path that led him outwards, away from the innermost, unfathomable depths. Although thinking itself is also an inner process, it became a resonance chamber, a sphere of reflection for the outside world.
It was evident to the early philosophers that the gods gave humans the ability to think in order to mirror themselves and their impulses in a conscious counterpart. To understand themselves through man “understanding them”. The word “reflect” expresses the mirroring function of thinking. Today, however, it is primarily the world that is reflected in human consciousness.
In the inner space that separated itself from the divine, man was one day able to say “I” to himself. Odysseus was, as far as can be seen, the first to do so. The barrier to the divine-spiritual world gradually became denser and denser, and with it the ego became stronger. Everything transient is a likeness, a reflection of the imperishable, the eternal. This also includes the ego. The One, the Universal, made itself recognisable to man. This gave rise to monotheism, the belief in the one divine “I am” – and with it its reflection in human consciousness, human individuality, the earthly ego. All of this may have been forgotten, but the memory of what happened can still light up. It is also a reflection of the origin, of the transcendent within us.
Thinking in spheres of freedom makes transhumanism possible, along with many other things. Being enchanted by the magic of what is possible leads to many things, including tragic dead ends. What we undertake does not always turn out well. Our immanent greatness, the freedom we have within us, the great power of our innermost light corresponds to the greatness of the misfortune and suffering that we can bring upon ourselves. They arise as a warning call, as a “stop”, when we venture too far into the outer world, when the arc of our being, which ends in the divine, threatens to break. When only a grimace stares back at the archetype that is gradually trying to create an image of itself.
Rudolf Steiner’s (1861-1925) anthroposophy sees Ahriman as the driving force that attempts to (mis-) lead people to a purely material existence – without any reference to the spirit – by technical means.
Failure and fulfilment on the path of humanity
This does not have to happen, not even on the path of transhumanism. Many smaller stages of failure precede the propagated “singularity”, which can only be realised in partial aspects. The vision of “singularity” as such, however, appears to be a counter-image to what the archetype intends.
The origin and we belong together; without the eternal within us, we are nothing. Today, we form a kind of darkened interface to the eternal and a wide-open interface to the world. Whereas we were once wide open to the divine-spiritual, today we are wide open to the world.
Engineering and technologies are inventions of the mind. They are often applications of great scientific findings and intuitions. Intuitions reach beyond us and often have to do with the primordial ground. Why should we not put the products of our intellect at our service? We could not exist without them. The mind belongs to us; only with its help can we cope with our existence. However, if we were only rational beings, we would be reduced to human beings, a kind of bloated brain. A few centuries ago, the mind freed itself from the power of religious authorities. In the meantime, however, its zeal has created a destructive imbalance in the organism as a whole. Among its offspring are the efforts to realise transhumanism.
The next evolutionary steps are about the whole, about the interaction of all aspects of the human being. This also includes deep inner feeling, sensing, experiencing the one life that moves in all beings. This includes opening up to the sustaining power that underlies all life. We have always known about love. It is reflected in our world in a thousand different ways. Divine love is the most important force, the sustaining force of the worlds, the sustaining force of our lives. To sacrifice itself, to “crucify” itself in the most diverse ways, is characteristic of it. It walks with us into the most distant outside, into the most extreme alienation, in order to hold together everything that arises for as long as possible.
The coronation of being human presupposes that we give the origin the opportunity to complete its reflection in us. This happens when an immortal structure can develop in the midst of our perishable body, an eternally living “body”, the “body” of the immortal aspect within us. It is the true image, created after long development and long maturation. This body is no longer subject to disintegration; it is of a subtle, energetic nature. And how is it formed? It happens through thinking, feeling, willing and acting that are directed towards the whole, that respond to the whole, to the impulses of the One, to the immanent unity of being human and of all life in nature. Again, thinking is important because it has a structuring power. If it allows itself to be guided by the source with the request “Thy will be done through me”, then the divine will works through man and with his help. It transforms him, and man transforms the world in which he lives. To be more precise, as soon as the immortal supporting structure is formed in man, he lives in two worlds. Image and archetype become a twofold unity. The image is a voluntary instrument and helper of the divine primordial ground.
The aspirations of transhumanism must be lived through. They contribute to the fullness of experience and the resulting maturation. There is much to indicate that, in addition to a number of helpful results, the coupling of man and machine results in an “abundance of failure and suffering “, an overcoming of man by the spirits he called.
The Bible speaks of a rebirth “out of water and of the Spirit” and thus refers to impulses from the divine-spiritual world. Transhumanism ultimately strives for rebirth “from technology”. To this end, it uses the idea, the ideal, the information from the divine-spiritual impulses, without knowing or wanting to acknowledge this origin.
Some say that we are at the midway point of evolution; others say that we have reached the stage of puberty in human development. The magnitude of the dangers we are creating for ourselves and the earth urges us to take the step into adulthood. It is the step into wholeness, combined with the surrender to the hardly ever imagined greatness of being human. It is the step into co-responsibility for the future path of creation and its transformation out of the spirit.
